8/23/2019 – After 14.Nc5 Bxc5 15.Rxc5 in the diagram, Black hit the white rook with the centralizing 15...Ne4? Can you spot the drawback of this move?

8/23/2019 – The 2019 Russian Championships came to an end this Thursday in Izhevsk. Olga Girya won the women's section after defeating Natlija Pogonina in the Armageddon phase of the play-offs, while Evgeny Tomashevsky clinched the open title thanks to a final round victory over Kirill Alekseenko. This was Tomashevsky's second national triumph, while Girya won the championship for the first time. | Photo: Dmitry Kryakvin

8/23/2019 – The ChessBase "Master Class" series allows anyone to learn from the greatest players in chess history! The games of world champions like Alexander Alekhine, José Raúl Capablanca and Anatoly Karpov are presented by a team of grandmasters and international masters: Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Oliver Reeh, Dr. Karsten Mueller and Niclas Huschenbeth. This week only you can get the 3 DVD-bundle for just EUR 29.90 instead of the regular price of EUR 89.70!

8/22/2019 – Ding Liren joined the leaders Viswanathan Anand and Fabiano Caruana at the top of the table with 3 points after a round of hard fought battles in almost all games at the Sinquefield Cup. Nemponiachtchi was the other winner of the round after his opponent Hikaru Nakamura played unevenly to lose a game where he didn't seem to be in his best of form. Anand, Caruana and So demonstrated very sharp opening preparations which made this round the most memorable of the tournament so far. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from the venue. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/22/2019 – If you have ever had a chess engine analysing deeply on your notebook, you'll notice you soon hear the cooling fan rushing, the battery is sucked empty as your push the limits of the hardware. The ChessBase Engine Cloud solves this problem: Current chess engines, installed on high-performance hardware — your wish is their command! Use the cloud's computing power without burdening your notebook or upgrading to expensive hardware. Have top-notch processing power already. Then you can become a supplier! The Engine Cloud is also a marketplace where you can rent engines out to others.

8/22/2019 – The Superfinals of the 72nd Russian Championship and the 69th Russian Women's Championship concluded in Izhevsk. In the final round Evgeny Tomashevsky won while Vitiugov could only draw giving the 32-year-old from Saratov his second Russian Championship title. Meanwhile, in the Women's, Natalija Pogonina and Olga Girya went all the way to an Armageddon blitz game play-off to decide the championship in favour of Girya. Games and commentary from 9:00 UTC (11:00 CEST, 5:00 AM EDT). | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/18/2019 – There once was a pensioner from Wetzikon, who played at the chess club Pfäffikon. You'll forget those names, but enjoy his games — for Speelman that's sine qua non | Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

8/18/2019 – The 2019 French Championships (Open and Women) are underway in Chartres and in the Women's Championship Sophie Milliet is vying for her seventh title. DHANANJAY KHADILKAR spoke with Sophie on the eve of the tournament about her memories of prior championships and her aspirations for the present one. In the first round Milliet drew with 2177-rated Mathilde Broly. Live games from 13:00 UTC (15:00 CEST / 9:00 EDT).

8/18/2019 – Viswanathan Anand got lucky against Ian Nepomniachtchi when the latter made a one-move blunder and lost his rook which resulted in his immediate resignation — the only decisive game of round one of the Sinquefield Cup 2019. Carlsen would like to improve on his forgettable Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz. Nakamura, Giri, So who are fresh for this event will definitely look forward to making an impact. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from the venue. Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/18/2019 – Seven rounds of the open and women's Russian Superfinals have been completed before the second rest day in Izhevsk. Both tournaments have now sole leaders — Evgeny Tomashevsky is on an undefeated 4½ out of 7 score in the Open, while Olga Girya has taken more of a commanding lead amongst the women with 6 points after seven rounds. Four rounds are still left to go in the Republic of Udmurtia. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/17/2019 – The Nimzowitsch Defence, 1.e4 Nc6, is a lesser-known and by far less popular branch of opening theory from the great strategist Aron Nimzowitsch. Unlike the Nimzo-Indian Defence, which has acquired a reputation as one of the soundest replies to 1.d4, 1...Nc6 as an answer to 1.e4 is generally thought to be one of the least sound replies. The main reason for that lies probably in the fact that Black wilfully blocks his c-pawn as soon as move 1, which more dogmatic players will regard as highly suspicious. There are, however, many other factors besides the mobility of the respective c-pawns, and this video series will explore rather rare, yet fully playable lines for Black.

8/17/2019 – Not just grandmasters, but brothers too! Dimitrios Mastrovasilis tied for first in the Francophone International in Paris this week, a half point ahead of his brother Athanasios. DHANANJAY KHADILKAR chatted with Dimitrios (pictured in jacket) and Athanasios (in the black t-shirt) during the tournament for a glimpse of life in a professional chess family. | Photo: D. Khadilkar